A report from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Dec 2016
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School Meal Programs Innovate to Improve Student Nutrition Survey explores progress, challenges three years into transition to healthier food standards Contact: Matt Mulkey, manager, communications Email: [email protected] Project website: healthyschoolfoodsnow.org
The Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project, a collaboration between The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides nonpartisan analysis and evidence-based recommendations to make sure that all foods and beverages sold in U.S. schools are safe and healthful. The Pew Charitable Trusts Susan K. Urahn, executive vice president Allan Coukell, senior director
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Jasmine Hall Ratliff, program officer
Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project Stephanie Scarmo, officer Sallyann Bergh, senior associate Whitney Meagher, senior associate Mollie Van Lieu, senior associate Carol Conroy, program assistant
External reviewers The report benefited from the insights and expertise of external peer reviewers Lindsey Turner, Ph.D., director of the Initiative for Healthy Schools and research associate professor in the College of Education at Boise State University, and Cliff Zukin, Ph.D., professor of public policy and political science at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Although they reviewed the study’s findings and methodology, respectively, neither they nor their organizations necessarily endorse the conclusions.
Acknowledgments The project team would like to thank Mathematica Policy Research for collecting and analyzing the data for this report, including Juan Diego Astudillo, Barbara Carlson, Irina Cheban, Mary Kay Crepinsek, Cheryl DeSaw, Elizabeth Gearan, Laura Kalb, Ryan McInerney, Kelley Monzella, and Jessy Nazario. Our thanks also go to Matt Gruenburg and Adam Zimmerman at Burness Communications; Tracy Fox at Food, Nutrition & Policy Consultants; and fact-checker Michelle Harris for their careful review and edits.
We further thank the following current and former Pew colleagues for their insight and guidance: Jessica Donze Black, Samantha Chao, Kyle Kinner, Alan van der Hilst, and Peter Wu. Thanks also to Dan Benderly, Laurie Boeder, Jennifer V. Doctors, Sara Flood, Mel Grant, Carol Hutchinson, Matt Mulkey, Danielle Ruckert, Liz Visser, and Gaye Williams for providing valuable feedback and production assistance on this report. Contents
1 Overview About the SMART Survey and Expert Panel 3
4 The national school meal programs
4 Progress and challenges implementing updated meal standards Expert Experience: Training and Outreach Breed Success 10
11 Promoting healthy eating and reducing plate waste Expert Experience: More Healthy Eating, Less Plate Waste 17
19 Trends in student participation and revenue from school nutrition programs Expert Experience: Building Student Participation and Revenue 23
25 Schools step up to the Smart Snacks standards
28 Recommendations
29 Conclusion
29 Appendix A: Tables from the SMART survey
43 Appendix B: Characteristics of school food authorities
45 Appendix C: Study design and methodology
52 Appendix D: Strengths and limitations of the study
52 Appendix E: Survey questionnaire
74 Endnotes Overview School meal programs and the individuals who run them have come under intense scrutiny in recent years as they planned for and implemented the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s healthier standards for foods and drinks offered to the nation’s students. But it is not just breakfast and lunch menus that have changed; vending machine options, a la carte lines, food-based fundraising practices, and more are being improved to meet the updated school nutrition rules that began to take effect in the 2012-13 school year (SY).
Studies of schools in three states—Connecticut, Texas, and Washington—show that under the updated standards, children’s eating habits are improving, which is a core goal of these strengthened policies.1 Students of all ages are choosing lunches higher in nutritional quality and lower in calories per gram and consuming more fruits and larger shares of their entrees and vegetables. Some studies also measured plate waste—the food taken and later discarded by kids—and found that it stayed the same or declined after the transition to healthier menus.
National nutrition standards influence many facets of school meal program operations, including menu planning, cooking and serving procedures, food costs, marketing strategies, and student participation rates. To investigate how updated requirements affect these areas and programs’ overall success, the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project—a joint initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation—commissioned the School Meal Approaches, Resources, and Trends (SMART) Study, a national survey of 489 school nutrition directors representing school food authorities (SFAs) across the country.2 All respondents participated in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and nearly all took part in the School Breakfast Program (SBP). A separate group of 11 food service directors—the SMART Expert Panel, selected by the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project for their records of success in navigating the updated standards—reviewed the results and provided insights on the reported challenges and strategies to address common barriers.
This report explores the survey results on SFA directors’ perspectives on meal and snack nutrition requirements and on districts’ experiences implementing the updated standards near the end of SY 2014-15. It reveals that many districts have emerged from the most challenging phase of the transition to healthier meals. The key findings from the survey are:
•• 6 in 10 directors said they faced only a few or no ongoing obstacles to meeting updated breakfast requirements; 4 in 10 said the same of the lunch guidelines. •• For breakfast and lunch, the commonly cited challenges were two rules that took effect in SY 2014-15: tighter limits on weekly average sodium content and a requirement that any food counted as a grain serving be made from at least 50 percent whole grains. •• Most programs use a mix of strategies—three, on average—to encourage students to eat nutritious meals. Nine in 10 adopted at least one practice to raise children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. For example, almost two-thirds of directors who increased the use of salad bars said that kids ate more produce as a result. •• Respondents said that holding taste tests with students and redistributing uneaten, sealed foods were among the most effective ways to reduce waste. But only 44 percent and 38 percent of programs, respectively, used these strategies. •• Directors whose programs prepared more foods from scratch and increased the use of salad bars were more likely to report that student participation rose or was unchanged from SY 2011-12 to 2014-15. Conversely, declines in participation were seen most often by directors who purchased more commercially prepared foods or decreased menu options.
1 •• Directors reported uneven progress toward district-wide compliance with the Smart Snacks in School (Smart Snacks) nutrition standards, which govern items sold in cafeteria a la carte lines, vending machines, snack bars, and at fundraisers. Two-thirds of respondents said that all food and beverages sold by their departments met the standards in SY 2014-15. But only 2 in 10 reported that the same was true for products sold by other departments and school groups. •• Equipment and labor costs were the most frequently reported financial concerns (38 percent and 33 percent, respectively). •• 84 percent of program directors reported rising or stable combined revenue (meal reimbursements plus snack and beverage sales) in the past year. More than half (54 percent) of districts saw higher combined revenue in SY 2014-15 compared with a year earlier. Almost a third (30 percent) said total revenue remained level.
Panelists agreed that healthy eating behaviors are best promoted through active strategies, such as cooking demonstrations and taste tests with students and working with administrators to change the cafeteria environment or lunch schedules.
Reflecting on these results, the expert panel noted that running a school nutrition program is analogous to running a successful business: Directors reported constantly updating and expanding their menus and employing creative strategies to keep their customers—the students—happy. Sharing recipes, vendors, and purchasing responsibilities across schools and districts has helped them successfully navigate the transition to healthier meals, and buy-in from administrators and parents was also vital to success.
Panelists agreed that healthy eating behaviors are best promoted through active strategies, such as cooking demonstrations and taste tests with students and working with administrators to change the cafeteria environment or lunch schedules so students have enough time to eat. They also said that celebrating their accomplishments through local media and direct outreach to school officials, families, and the community generated positive perceptions of the program and support for efforts to serve healthier foods to students.
This report describes the survey findings and panelists’ insights and offers recommendations to states, districts, vendors, families, and communities to enhance meal programs’ success in implementing updated nutrition standards and encouraging healthy eating among students. By prioritizing nutrition as part of a culture of health in educational settings and in funding and policy decisions, policymakers can ensure that students have access to nutritious food. At the same time, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, as well as parents, can build a network of community support for school meal programs and their critical role in children’s lifelong health.
2 About the SMART Survey and Expert Panel
The findings presented in this report are based on an online survey of school food service directors from a nationally representative sample of public SFAs, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research. The questionnaire was designed to collect information on the continued challenges and successes achieved related to the ongoing implementation of the USDA’s nutrition standards for school meals and snacks. Directors from 489 SFAs completed the survey at the end of SY 2014-15, so when the data for this study were collected, all of the updated meal requirements were in effect. Data were weighted to be nationally representative of all public SFAs participating in the NSLP in SY 2014-15, and the weighted response rate was 52 percent. (See Appendix C.)
This report also includes suggestions from a panel of school nutrition professionals, listed below, who reviewed and discussed the survey results. They represent a range of meal programs that are using various strategies to successfully serve healthy meals and snacks.
Linette Dodson Jeanne Reilly Director of School Nutrition Director of Food Services Carrollton City Schools RSU14—Windham Raymond School District Carrollton, Georgia Windham, Maine
Amy Droegemeier Lisa Sims Director of Nutrition Services School Nutrition Director Gardner Edgerton School District #231 Daviess County Public Schools Gardner, Kansas Owensboro, Kentucky
Roger Kipp Rodney Taylor Director of Food Services and Nutrition Director of Food and Nutrition Services Norwood City School District Fairfax County Public Schools Norwood, Ohio Fairfax, Virginia
Donna Martin Sal Valenza Director, School Nutrition Program School Nutrition Director Burke County Public Schools West New York School District Waynesboro, Georgia West New York, New Jersey
Bridgette Matthews Connie Vogts School Nutrition Program Director Nutrition Services Director Elbert County School District USD 480—Liberal School District Elberton, Georgia Liberal, Kansas
Helen Phillips Senior Director of School Nutrition Norfolk Public Schools Norfolk, Virginia
3 The national school meal programs The National School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) both provide children with healthy, affordable meals during the school year. Established in 1946, the NSLP operates in about 95 percent of public schools.3 Each school day, more than 30 million students receive their midday meals through the NSLP, and 14 million receive their morning meals through the SBP.4 Participating schools must make meals available to all students and provide lunches and breakfasts to children from low-income families for free or at a reduced price.
In December 2010, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, reauthorizing the school meal programs with a focus on improving children’s access to nutritious foods and promoting healthy eating and physical activity. The law directed the USDA to update nutrition standards for all foods and beverages sold on campuses during the school day, and the resulting revised requirements are based on recommendations from the Health and Medicine Division at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) and the most recent information on children’s nutritional requirements as reflected in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.5 Congress also provided additional funding for lunch programs and created a universal meal option—the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)—through which schools in high-poverty areas could provide free meals to all students.6
The updated standards, which represented the first major changes to meal requirements in more than 15 years, require more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and limit the amount of calories, saturated fats, and sodium. In addition, for a meal to be reimbursable, students must select at least one serving of a fruit or vegetable. The healthier guidelines for lunches and breakfasts went into effect at the start of SY 2012-13 and SY 2013-14, respectively. Requirements to reduce the weekly average sodium content in meals and to ensure that any food counted as a grain serving be made from at least 50 percent whole grains were phased in for SY 2014-15.7
In addition to breakfast and lunch, the USDA also has responsibility for setting nutrition standards for “competitive” foods and beverages—items sold via vending machines, snack bars, stores, or fundraisers on campus during school hours or in cafeteria a la carte lines that can compete for children’s appetites and wallets often as snacks and meal supplements. In June 2013, the USDA published an interim final rule, known as “Smart Snacks,” that set the first-ever comprehensive minimum nutrition standards for these foods. The standards, which went into effect in SY 2014-15, require that snacks be comprised primarily of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, protein, or whole grains; limit the amount of calories, sugar, and sodium allowed; and restrict the types and serving sizes of beverages that can be sold.8 The USDA published the Smart Snacks final rule on July 29, 2016.
Progress and challenges implementing updated meal standards The updated standards for meals and competitive foods have required some SFAs to make a number of changes to their meal production and service. Although many districts have reported improvements in student participation in meal programs and acceptance of healthier options, others have raised concerns about participation, costs, revenue, and food waste. It is important, therefore, to better understand the situation at the district, state, and national levels in order to make informed decisions about how to most effectively address any barriers to success.
4 Variability among districts in terms of their success and challenges with implementing healthier standards is not new. Although most of the current nutrition requirements went into effect in SY 2012-13, many districts started implementing changes well before. A 2013 study by the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project—Serving Healthy School Meals: Despite Challenges, Schools Meet USDA Meal Requirements—found that 31 percent of school meal programs started serving healthier meals before the regulations were even proposed, 23 percent began when the guidelines were proposed (January 2011), and 45 percent started making changes only once the rule was final (January 2012).9
Regardless of when they started revising their programs, the vast majority of schools—94 percent—anticipated meeting updated nutrition standards by the end of SY 2012-13. State child nutrition agencies are responsible for certifying SFAs’ compliance with meal program rules, and data those agencies reported to the USDA show that nearly all districts—98.5 percent—had met updated nutrition standards by December 2015.10
However, SFAs that waited until the rules were final or nearly so had to make changes much more quickly than those that started in advance and may still be working through some of the implementation challenges that others have already overcome. This is particularly true for requirements that were rolled out more recently.
Operating a school meal program is a complex job. Nutrition professionals must serve healthy food on a tight budget in a short amount of time every day to an often tough audience. Serving Healthy School Meals: Despite Challenges, Schools Meet USDA Meal Requirements found that the two challenges reported most frequently by directors during the first year of implementation were cost and availability of foods that comply with the new requirements and the need to train staff.11
To explore the most pressing challenges SFA directors are facing, the SMART survey asked a series of questions about requirements and other factors contributing to those barriers and changes made to meal production or service in order to address them. (See Appendix A.) The SMART Expert Panel then met in December 2015 to discuss the issues identified and offer real-world recommendations on overcoming the challenges to implementing USDA nutrition standards for school meals and snacks. In general, the panelists cited perseverance, creativity, and collaboration as key to successful implementation of the lunch and breakfast requirements and acknowledged that planning menus that appeal to students and meet updated standards is a transition that gets easier over time.
Nearly all districts—98.5 percent—had met updated nutrition standards by December 2015.
Lunch
School food service directors had a broad range of experiences with fulfilling the lunch requirements during SY 2014-15. About 4 in 10 SFA directors (39 percent) reported facing few or no implementation challenges. More than a third (37 percent) reported some difficulties, and one-quarter (25 percent) reported many or a great deal of difficulties. (See Figure 1.)
5 Figure 1 Nearly 40% of School Meal Directors Had Few or No Difficulties Meeting Healthier Lunch Standards Extent of challenges by percentage of respondents, SY 2014-15
% No % A great deal of 8 challenges 7 challenges
% A few % Many 31 challenges 18 challenges
% Some 37 challenges
Notes: The data are weighted to be representative of all public school food authorities offering the National School Lunch Program. Percentages might not total 100 percent because of rounding. Source: School Meal Approaches, Resources, and Trends Study, 2015 © 2016 The Pew Charitable Trusts
Among SFA directors who reported difficulties, more than half said that the number of challenges either stayed the same (35 percent) or decreased (19 percent) since the initial implementation of the lunch requirements in SY 2012-13. The remaining 46 percent of directors reported that the number of challenges increased since the initial implementation of the lunch requirements.
Among SFA directors who reported difficulties in lunch menu-planning, the most common challenges were keeping sodium below the limit (78 percent), meeting the whole grain-rich requirement (60 percent), and holding calories below the maximums (54 percent). The SMART Expert Panel emphasized that the whole grain- rich requirements and the sodium target went into effect for the first time during SY 2014-15, so those were recent changes for SFA directors at the time of the survey. This may explain the increase in challenges for some districts, as most other lunch requirements had been in place since SY 2012-13.
As demonstrated in Serving Healthy School Meals: Despite Challenges, Schools Meet USDA Meal Requirements, the extent of challenges the SFAs encountered largely depended on how early they began making their changes. The SMART survey asked directors when they started making changes relative to when the bulk of the lunch requirements took effect, and nearly three-quarters (73 percent) reported that they began before SY 2012-13. One-fifth (20 percent) of respondents reported that they began making changes after the final regulations went
6 into effect. A subgroup analysis (data not shown) showed that slightly more early adopters (39 percent) reported few or no challenges in SY 2014-15, compared with those who waited for the standards to go into effect (35 percent). Breakfast Among the sampled SFAs that offer breakfast, 6 in 10 respondents (61 percent) reported facing few or no challenges in implementing the breakfast requirements during SY 2014-15. Twenty-nine percent reported some difficulties, and a small proportion (10 percent) reported many or a great deal of problems. (See Figure 2.)
Figure 2 More Than 60% of School Meal Directors Had Few or No Difficulties Meeting Healthier Breakfast Standards Extent of challenges by percentage of respondents, SY 2014-15
% % No A great deal of 19 challenges 3 challenges
% A few % Many 42 challenges 7 challenges
% Some 29 challenges
Notes: The data are weighted to be representative of all public school food authorities offering the National School Lunch Program. Twenty- seven that do not offer breakfast were excluded. Source: School Meal Approaches, Resources, and Trends Study, 2015 © 2016 The Pew Charitable Trusts
Among the SFA directors who reported having trouble with the breakfast requirements, more than half said that the number of challenges either stayed the same (46 percent) or decreased (12 percent) since initial implementation. The remaining 39 percent reported that the number increased.
The most common challenges reported by SFA directors who said they encountered difficulties when planning breakfast menus were meeting the whole grain-rich requirement (55 percent), keeping sodium below the limit (50 percent), and holding total calories below the maximum (41 percent). Again, the whole grain and sodium
7 requirements were implemented more recently than other standards, which may account for the greater challenges reported in association with them at the time of the survey. Things like cycle menus are great Factors contributing to challenges in meeting meal tools, but those requirements menus need to The survey asked respondents who faced at least one challenge to identify be driven by food the factors that contributed to the problems they reported. The most taste testing and commonly cited issues for both breakfast and lunch were the availability involvement in (80 percent) and cost (74 percent) of foods that meet meal requirements the classroom. and are acceptable to students, and the availability of foods with If you haven’t appropriate sodium levels (61 percent). These findings align with those in involved your Serving Healthy School Meals: Despite Challenges, Schools Meet USDA Meal students, you’re Requirements, where the top challenge, identified by 76 percent of SFAs, probably not was the availability and cost of products to meet the standards.12 going to have Changes made to meal production or service to great acceptance implement nutrition requirements from them.” Linette Dodson, director Most SFA directors (89 percent) reported making at least one change of school nutrition, to their meal production or service to implement the updated breakfast Carrollton City Schools, Georgia and lunch requirements. The most common changes included moving to cycle menus (46 percent)—menus that offer different options every day and repeat after a fixed period, typically two to eight weeks—and using more pre-portioned condiments (44 percent) and salad dressings (40 percent). (See Figure 3.) Cycle menus save time and labor and help control food costs because regularly used items can be purchased in bulk,13 and, according to the SMART Expert Panel, buying condiments and dressings in pre-portioned amounts helps ensure that the servings will fit within daily and weekly nutrient requirements.
About one-third (31 to 33 percent) of SFA directors also reported making at least one of the following changes: preparing more or different foods from scratch, increasing menu options, expanding the use of salad bars, and purchasing more commercially prepared foods.
The analysis in Serving Healthy School Meals: Despite Challenges, Schools Meet USDA Meal Requirements showed that directors predicted such changes would be necessary. In 2012, 80 percent of districts wanted to implement standard recipes and preparation methods to meet lunch requirements, 55 percent planned to do more scratch cooking, and 28 percent were preparing to buy more ready-to-eat foods from vendors.14
8 Figure 3 Adding Cycle Menus and Pre-Portioned Condiments Helps Schools Meet Nutrition Standards Most common changes made to meal production or service, by percentage of respondents
Move to cycle menus
Use more pre-portioned condiments to control portion size
Use more pre-portioned salad dressings to control portion size
Prepare more or di erent foods from scratch
Increase menu options
Increase use of salad bars
Purchase more commercially prepared foods
Notes: The data are weighted to be representative of all public school food authorities (SFAs) offering the National School Lunch Program. Respondents were asked, “Which of the following changes, if any, did your district make to meal production or meal service in order to implement the current meal requirements for lunch and breakfast?” These data reflect only SFA directors who reported at least one change to meal production or service. Multiple responses were allowed. Source: School Meal Approaches, Resources, and Trends Study, 2015 © 2016 The Pew Charitable Trusts
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9 Expert Experience: Training and Outreach Breed Success
The SMART Expert Panel reinforced the need for many of the changes reported by the survey respondents and offered several approaches to facilitate success in implementing updated meal standards:
Network •• Engage in informal sharing of recipes and ideas among food service directors across districts. •• Join food-buying co-ops or share vendors to procure quality ingredients and products. •• Reach out for support from food service directors in similar districts (i.e., size, region, and community type) who can serve as peer resources.
Prioritize training opportunities •• Participate in formal trainings, such as those offered through the Institute for Child Nutrition, the USDA’s Team Up for School Nutrition Success initiative, and the School Nutrition Association, which provide tailored technical assistance to school nutrition professionals. •• Take advantage of resources and training programs offered by state agencies that administer the Child Nutrition Programs. •• Access online information from the USDA’s Team Nutrition initiative, which provides recipes and best practices to support school meal programs.
Earn buy-in from stakeholders •• Communicate with administrators and food service staff about what changes you are making to the school meal programs, why, and how those modifications can improve the health and well-being of students. •• Develop outreach strategies to help students and parents understand the updated nutrition standards and participate in creating solutions. •• Promote the school meal program in the community and celebrate successes through social media, news outlets, and in-person events. Panelists also emphasized that making numerous changes to meal production or service, involving students in the menu-planning process, and continually improving are all crucial components of success. You have to re-challenge yourself, your staff, and the students and families. Reworking, re-taste testing, reviewing participation numbers—it’s constant reinvention!” Jeanne Reilly, director of food services, RSU14—Windham Raymond School District, Maine
10 Promoting healthy eating and reducing plate waste Schools have had varying success getting students to accept and consume the healthier meals they are serving. To understand how some districts are accomplishing this goal, the survey asked questions relating to the promotion of healthy food and the reduction of plate waste. Overall, the SMART survey findings show that although most districts are implementing at least one strategy, many are using several. The SMART Expert Panel agreed that using multiple approaches has been a key to success in their districts.
Survey respondents most commonly reported employing passive strategies (e.g., displaying posters and signs in the cafeteria, posting nutrition education messages on menus or websites, providing teachers and parents with promotional material), but these were not perceived to be the most effective. The strategies that received the highest efficacy scores from SMART expert panelists, such as changing lunch or recess schedules or extending the lunch period, were less likely to be implemented.
The SMART expert panelists emphasized the need to embrace active approaches (e.g., conducting cooking demonstrations with staff, performing taste tests with children, working with administrators to change the cafeteria environment and meal schedule). They agreed that active strategies are more effective than passive ones in promoting positive perceptions of school nutrition programs among parents and teachers and in cultivating lifelong healthy eating habits among students.
I volunteer to emcee the Christmas concert so that I can speak to parents in the audience and build our brand as nutrition experts. I tell them that good music and recipes are similar; both are about bringing all of the components together and jazzing them up to make it interesting.” Roger Kipp, director of food services and nutrition, Norwood City School District, Ohio
Strategies to promote healthy eating among students Most SFA directors (87 percent) said they used at least one strategy to promote healthy eating in their district, but the average respondent reported employing a combination of three strategies. Displaying posters and signs in the cafeteria was the most common approach (91 percent), followed by providing nutrition education messages on the food service website or posted menus (58 percent) and inviting family members to join students for school meals (44 percent). Approximately one-quarter of SFA directors reported conducting schoolwide events to promote nutrition education (27 percent) or community events to encourage good nutrition and physical activity (22 percent). (See Table 1.) In addition, more than one-third of directors (36 percent) reported that their SFA required schools to provide classroom-based nutrition education.
11 Table 1 Most School Meal Directors Offer Educational Messages to Encourage Healthy Eating Strategies used to promote nutrition
Strategy* Percentage of respondents
Display posters and signs in cafeteria 91.1
Provide nutrition education messages on food service menus or website 57.6
Invite family members to consume school meals 44.4
Conduct schoolwide events to promote nutrition 27.4
Conduct or participate in community events to promote nutrition and 21.8 physical activity
Conduct cooking demonstrations or other activities 18.1
Require school food service staff to be present at parent meeting 16.3
Other† 3.2
Number of SFAs (unweighted) 429
Number of SFAs (weighted) 11,843
Notes: The data are weighted to be representative of all public school food authorities (SFAs) offering the National School Lunch Program. Respondents were asked, in addition to classroom-based nutrition education, “What other strategies are used to promote healthy eating in your district?” These data reflect only SFA directors who reported using at least one strategy. Multiple responses were allowed. * The number of strategies used ranged from one to seven, with an average of three. † Other strategies reported include participating in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, providing nutrition education to students in classrooms and during physical education, conducting taste tests, and forming a student food committee. Source: School Meal Approaches, Resources, and Trends Study, 2015 © 2016 The Pew Charitable Trusts
Reducing plate waste at lunch Plate waste refers to the amount of food students select as part of reimbursable school meals but leave uneaten. The survey asked SFA directors to report whether they observed changes in plate waste at lunch since the updated meal requirements took effect. Most (79 percent) noticed either an increase or decrease over the past three years, 12 percent did not, and 9 percent did not know.
When asked about waste of specific food and beverage items, about three-quarters of SFA directors reported no change for milk (77 percent) and meat and meat alternates or other entrees (74 percent). For grains, 43 percent reported no change, but 45 percent reported more waste. More than half (54 percent) of respondents reported that plate waste had increased for fruits, and three-quarters (75 percent) said that the amount of vegetable waste had increased. (See Figure 4.)
12 Figure 4 Plate Waste at Lunch Showed Mixed Results After Updates to School Nutrition Standards Perceived changes in waste, by food group